3 Weeks Old

Today Jackson is 3 weeks, 2 days old. In a few weeks he has already changed so much!

• On Saturday we met our neighbor's baby who was 5 days old. Jackson looked huge in comparison! We figured out that Jackson wasn't much bigger by weight, but he just looked less squishy and more spread out. Babies change so fast!
• We've gone from using the swaddle to a sleep sack on most nights. Jackson definitely likes to be swaddled once he is settled down, but he uses a lot of energy trying to gets his arms free. I hate to hear him straining! The downside of the sleep sack is sometimes his arms will jerk up, which startles him awake. Very funny to watch!
• Jackson now sleeps in his nursery. We'd been keeping the bassinet in our bedroom, but we had to move him out so we could get some sleep! Jackson makes so many grunts, coos, sneezes, farts, ect while he is sleeping that it was hard to get any rest. We don't even need to use the monitor; his lungs are plenty strong that he makes sure to let us know if he needs something, whether we are in our bedroom or downstairs in the living room. 
• Every other night or so Jackson will have a 3.5 - 4 hr stretch after his midnight feeding instead of his usual 2-3. Those few extra minutes of sleep are amazing! Hopefully those "longer" stretches of sleep will start to occur on a more regular basis!
• This week we've been giving Jackson medicine for the first time. He has a trush infection (oral candidiasis) so he's on an antifungal medication (nystatin suspension). Jackson seems to like the taste of the medication once we can get his mouth open, which isn't too surprising once I found out that it is 35% sucrose. I also have to take diflucan to prevent the infection from getting passed back and forth between us. Fortunately, thrush isn't too serious is usually resolves with the antifungals.
• We also decided to hold off on introducing Jackson a bottle until after his course of medication. So instead of sleeping through the midnight feeding while Jon fed him pumped milk (omg- that sounded glorious!), we're both getting up to apply the medication. Our new plan is to introduce a bottle next week.
• We haven't taken Jackson on too many excursions yet, but the few times we've gone out he has done great. Last week we went out to lunch after a doctor's appointment, and he slept like an angel in his car seat the whole time. (on  a side note- we had lunch at a Tex-Mex place called Chevy's. For being a Tex-Mex chain in Virginia, it was surprisingly good. Their chips were thin, crispy, and delicious. And Mexican food tasted that much better since I had been avoiding spicy foods for the last 4 months of my pregnancy)
• Jackson will meet his Grandma Rita in two days! My mom is starting the parade of out-of-town guests; my dad and his wife are coming in early August and Jon's parents are coming at the end of August. We're very excited for Jackson to meet his grandparents, and to have a little bit of help with the little guy!
• Our fall trip to Texas has been planned for October 18-29, with a baptism for Jackson on Saturday October 20 at Concordia. Our dear friends Jonathan and Sarah McCoy will be his godparents.
• Wow- I guess a lot has happened recently! I'm trying to enjoy every minute with Baby Jackson since my maternity leave is already half over!